In the summer of 2019, Wes Sierk found himself lying face-up in a hospital bed, close to death in a coma. He had sold his company for millions two weeks prior. Wes’s bedside was surrounded by his loved ones who wondered if he’d ever wake again. How could Wes’s life path have taken such a dramatic turn for the worse? 

Well, despite being a talented businessman, gifted leader, and brilliant executive, Wes had made his fair share of mistakes. The first time he’d tried to sell his company, Wes decided to negotiate the sale himself. He came from humble beginnings, and brought a sense of frugality to his business decisions. So, rather than contend with the exorbitant fees an investment banker would charge to negotiate the sale, Wes decided to try it solo.

While immersing himself in the minutiae of negotiating the sale, Wes neglected his responsibilities as CEO of the company. As a result, sales and morale dropped, and his potential buyer...

When Paul Heiss, the founder of a metal manufacturing company based in China, learned that the Chinese government would increase tariffs on aluminium scrap products, he faced a crisis. 

Some of his largest clients did business out of the U.S. and Europe, and the 25% tariff levied by China’s Custom Tariff Commission meant that Heiss simply couldn’t get his products to foreign clients affordably. 

Heiss soon realized that he would have to move his manufacturing operations to India. But how would he do it? That’s when he realized that he was asking the wrong question. Rather than asking how he’d accomplish this herculean task, he had to ask himself who could help him get it done. 

Heiss tasked his most trusted employees with finding the perfect Indian strategic partner. Heiss even created an impact filter which broke down the criteria that his team should look for in a partner and he decided on three basic points. The partner...

 Jared Van Dyke wanted to create a mastermind group for several years, but he had no idea where to start. Eventually, Van Dyke realized he had to start thinking differently about his goal. Rather than wondering how to start, he had to think about who he could connect with to create abundance and self-expansion.

By connecting with a trusted group of mentors and learning the knowledge presented in The Mastermind Playbook, Jared was successfully able to create his own flourishing mastermind, and a podcast that offers life-changing advice to his audience.

Jared’s reframing of his goal immediately brings to mind chapter 1 of Who Not How, entitled “Whos” Create Abundance and Self-Expansion.

How “Whos” Create Abundance

As Dan Sullivan puts it, the first “who” you have to worry about is yourself. Sullivan emphasizes that you must improve yourself, value yourself, and maximize your own happiness, creativity, and...

 For Greg Yates, owning over a dozen businesses with nearly a thousand employees came to an abrupt end when he found himself in prison. It wasn’t the story he anticipated telling his grandkids, but Yates nonetheless wrote a book about how hitting rock bottom propelled him to reinvent himself. 

When touring with his first book, Yates discovered he wasn’t alone. In fact, he found that people around the world felt imprisoned by their own limiting beliefs. Yates went on to become a successful coach, teaching the foundational principles that allowed him to rise from the ashes. Along the way, he discovered that beyond any motivational speech or productivity hack, he had the ground-level truth that who we believe we are is who we become. 

Yates began helping his coaching clients shift the stories they told themselves about who they are, and even started his own mastermind group, with the help of what he learned from The Mastermind Playbook.

...

Shawn Skaggs has seen the ups and downs of business for many years, through leadership roles in the farm equipment and agricultural industries. Somewhere along the way, he realized that any business is vulnerable to black swan events and catastrophic change. After learning how to respond to business crises himself, he decided he wanted to help others do the same.

It was a difficult decision and there was every reason to put it off, but Shawn knew that he wanted to have an impact on his kids, his community, and the world. That need to have a truly meaningful impact on others motivated Shawn to stop procrastinating and start achieving his goals.

Shawn’s calling to leave a meaningful legacy, and his belief that we deeply need to help one another, motivated him to stop putting off his dreams. He started a mastermind group called the Impact, Legacy and Meaning Peer Group, and with help of the tips he learned from The Mastermind Playbook, grew it into a thriving...

Brian K. McRae left behind his corporate job in B2B IT training to start his own mortgage referral business, achieving impressive results and building a mastermind group along the way. Brian even began coaching other business owners, helping them to master his signature concept of becoming “radically referable.” Somehow, despite these early successes, Brian couldn’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t helping as many people as he could.

The principles he taught had changed his life, and he knew they had the ability to do the same for more people, if only he could reach them. That’s when Brian discovered The mastermind Playbook and began to set conscious and specific goals towards growing his mastermind group and coaching practice. Those commitments - and the accountability provided by a group of mentors and confidants - gave him the push he needed to make the impact he desired.

Since setting those ambitious goals, Brian managed to...

The collaborative power of stages changed Peter Vargas’ life forever. Specifically, hearing inspirational speakers on a stage provided the catalyst for him to repair his relationship with his father and found a multi-million dollar company based on connecting people to the right stages and speaking opportunities. Pete even grew his company, Advance Your Reach, by sharing stages with legendary speakers like Michael Phelps, Robert Cialdini, and Sarah Blakely. 

Finding the right stage or platform allows leaders to connect to an audience with a powerful spirit of collaboration. This collaborative ethos empowers leaders to tell their story, and open the door to fruitful relationship-building and networking. 

Unfortunately, many leaders miss out on opportunities to collaborate with others because they get stuck in a mindset of scarcity and competition. Rather than building win-win relationships, they’re bent on getting ahead by sabotaging others....

Tommy Breedlove built a name for himself as an industry-leading businessman long ago, but somewhere along the way he realized his blind ambition was preventing him from living a well-rounded and balanced life. This epiphany led to a journey of self-exploration which culminated in a renowned coaching practice, one that made Tommy a sought-after keynote speaker and world-class mastermind facilitator.

Tommy credits the knowledge he learned from The Mastermind Playbook for his breakout success as a mastermind leader, and the ability to say no to the wrong opportunities for showing him how to simplify his life and help others do the same. 

Looking at Tommy’s transition from a successful-but-overwhelmed businessman to a truly happy and well-rounded leader brings to mind chapter 8 of Dan Sullivan’s Who Not How. Chapter 8 is titled “How to Avoid the Wrong Whos, Even Highly Attractive Ones,” and talks about why the capacity to say...

The Power of "Who Not How"

I'm on fire as I write this! Just a couple of weeks ago, we hosted our Iron Sharpens Iron Mastermind Retreat in Nashville, Tennessee. These retreats never fail to renew my love of mastermind groups. 

Imagine over 100 men from around the country gathering together to support and empower each other. That kind of energy just feels different! Each member gets the chance to share recent successes, current obstacles, and things they're looking forward to. We also bring in top-level speakers to inspire and motivate our mastermind group members. 

These in-person events really bolster our weekly Zoom meetings. If you think connections are made during those weekly calls, imagine the connections made in-person. I’ve noticed something about people. All you have to do is set the stage for genuine conversations and they’ll take care of the rest. 

It’s part of my vision that every member of my online mastermind...